The Bon Vivant experiments with solera-aged cocktails

The Bon Vivant in Edinburgh has taken barrel-aged cocktails a step further with the installation of a Campari solera system of barrels.

The Bon Vivant in Edinurgh is experimenting with solera-aged cocktails

The acclaimed Edinburgh bar, situated in Thistle Street, has partnered with aperitivo brand Campari to create a linked series of six barrels designed to marry and age the three separate components of a Negroni.

The top three barrels contain Campari, vermouth and gin, which are filtered down through the other three barrels over time, to a tap below. As with all solera ageing systems, as no barrel is ever fully drained, the mixture blends with any remaining product left in each barrel, before being siphoned off as a ready-to-drink Negroni.

The Campari-branded solera barrel system, which the Gruppo Campari-owned brand claims is the first of its kind in the world, takes pride of place on The Bon Vivant’s bar.

The concept of aged cocktails, which has been circulating the world’s top cocktail cities for several years, has evolved in recent times to include ready-to-drink bottle-aged cocktails, and even leather-aged drinks.

Alex Kratena and Simone Caporale of The Artesian in London, have been experimenting with ageing cocktails in goat’s skin treated with pine and juniper resin.

“Leather pouches are much more expensive than barrels and much more difficult to come by, but we knew that it would impose a different character on an aged cocktail,” Kratena told The Spirits Business. “We make sure the mix is aged for at least one month before we serve it, tasting it all the while, but there is no limit to how long the cocktail should be aged for as the flavours never stop developing.”